94 
THE I’ERN FAMILIES OF BRITAIN. 
to rot and lose body, we bave found tbe best compost to 
consist of an admixture of small nodules of clay or brick- 
eartb, leaf mould, and sand, in tbe proportion of two, four, 
and one respectively. Hard water must be carefully avoided 
with tbis Fern ; it is certain death in a very short time. From 
tbe foregoing description of its favourite haunts, it will be 
seen that plenty of water and shade are necessary. With these 
and ordinary care the Blechnum may be made one of the 
prettiest pot plants existing — the two sorts of fronds con- 
trasting well, and adding greatly to its ornamental character. 
It has yielded a number of very marked varieties, in nearly 
all of which the same distinctive diiference in its fronds is 
maintained. The figures in parentheses refer to Plate III. 
B. S. Aitkeniaimm (Aitken’s) (9). Wild find. Bears large, 
flat, branching crests, while the side divisions are much 
reduced. Curious, but handsome. 
B. S. cladophorum (branch-bearing) (10). This divides 
and crests in quite a different way, no two fronds being alike; 
they are also slenderer in outline, and often curved like a 
sickle. 
B. S. concinimm (neat), Bruery (13). Found on Exmoor, 
1881. Yery distinct and beautiful. The pinnae of tbe barren 
fronds are contracted symmetrically into small, round, toothed 
lobes like small scallop shells closely set together. The fertile 
fronds are merely thin sticks with small knobs bearing the 
spores. When grown soft in a close frame, the pinnae 
occasionally lengthen here and there; but grown hard, the 
fronds maintain their symmetry. 
B. S. congestum (crowded), Druery (14). Dartmoor find. 
Normal form condensed into half size; pinnae rather crowded. 
B. S. crispissimum (much crisped). Extremely dwarf and 
congested; a decent- sized normal plant being, as it were, 
condensed into one with hard, horny fronds, Sin. or 4in. long; 
pinnae squeezed tightly together. Yery rare and pretty. 
B. S. contractnm (contracted) (19). A similar form, 
with very short pinnae half way up, rest usual length. There 
are two forms of this — one quite normal all but the contrac- 
tion, the other much slenderer in make, as illustrated. Good. 
